On Thu, Aug 10, 2006 at 10:56:01PM +0100, Roger Leigh wrote:
> The inetd daemon installed by default:
> etch: openbsd-inetd | netkit-inetd
> sarge: netkit-inetd
> woody: netkit-inetd (netkit-base, split from netbase)
> potato: (in netbase)
> slink: (in netbase)
> Users upgrading from woody or sarge to etch will not be switched to
> openbsd-inetd, whereas new installs will use it by default.
Why, for the love of Cthulhu, does netbase depend on inetd in the first
place? Let's see:
netbase:
critical network configuration.
It has some ancient cruft like /etc/services (which does more ill
than good), but /etc/init.d/networking is not something one wants to
skip.
inetd:
a way to set up ad-hoc network servers.
Now, let's see what depends on *-inetd:
Depends:
lukemftpd
wipl-client-java
pawserv
netbase
bitlbee
micro-httpd
wipl-client-inetd
ltsp-server
noffle
Recommends:
atftpd
Suggests:
micro-proxy
education-main-server
Throw in a few packages which can optionally use inetd but don't specify the
dependency.
It would be good to get rid of inetd from the basic install at all. Those
who need it can simply, well, install it -- and packages can use Depends:
on flavour-inetd just like the rest of facilities in Debian. As an added
bonus, you don't have to bother with drop-in replacements as whatever
depends on an inetd can list the flavours it can use as alternatives in its
Depends: line.
As it stands today, I currently use equivs on all of my boxes. This can
potentially break dependencies if I install something that happens to
actually need inetd.
Cheers and schtuff,
--
1KB // Microsoft corollary to Hanlon's razor:
// Never attribute to stupidity what can be
// adequately explained by malice.